Welcome to From The Upper Deck, my blog about RSL and soccer in general. I have a lot of passion for the beautiful game. I am just a fan that likes to sit in the upper deck and take it all in.

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Statistically Speaking- Olmes Garcia

This has been a season of surprises for RSL. In a year that many thought would be a rebuilding year, RSL has come out and shattered offensive records and sits atop the league in the race for the Supporters Shield. One of the biggest surprises on the season has been the play of Olmes Garcia.

Garcia was signed towards the end of the pre-season. Very little was known of the 20 year old striker when he was signed by the team. There were no expectations for him for this season. Many people thought he would see very little playing time or perhaps not play at all.

Garcia with a header challenge in a reserve
match earlier this season.

It wasn't until his first MLS match that people sat up and took notice. In fact, on his very first touch in MLS he put a header off the crossbar. Three weeks later Garcia scored his first MLS goal against Vancouver. On the play that scored the goal, Garcia showed his speed, ball handling ability, and a beautiful shot that got him nominated for MLS Goal of the Week. By this point, the fan base was starting to understand the diamond in the rough that RSL had found. Garcia has quickly moved on to become a vital part of RSL and a huge fan favorite.

Garcia's stats are off the charts. I thought it would be good to really dive in to see all the things that Garcia is doing well.

Garcia has played 831 minutes so far this season. He already has an impressive 5 goals on the season which comes out that he is scoring .54 goals every 90 minutes played. That is the second best scoring rate on the team. That is a very impressive number for such a young player playing his first season in MLS.

What is more impressive is how well the team plays as a whole when he is in the game. During those 831 minutes, the team has scored 21 times, that comes out to a goal every 39.57 minutes that Garcia plays. That is the best on the team by 4 minutes per goal (Velasquez is next at 43.56). As a starter, Garcia has played 539 minutes with the team scoring 10 goals in that time period (a goal every 53.90 minutes) which is a good number for a starter. What is most impressive is seeing how well he has done coming off the bench. He has played 292 minutes as a sub. In that time, RSL has scored 11 times! That is a goal every 26.55 minutes.

Garcia is very active when he is in the match. On the season he is averaging 3.14 shots per 90 minutes that he plays. This is second highest on the team (Sabario is at 3.81). He is averaging 1.30 shots on goal per 90 minutes played which is also second highest on the team only behind Saborio's 1.45.

Garcia's assist statistics are also very impressive. With 4 assists on the year he is averaging .43 assists per 90 minutes played. That is the highest assist rate on the team! This is a huge part of Garcia's game that has flown under the radar. As he showed in the game against Columbus, the is very good at crossing the ball into dangerous spots.

Another very impressive stat that he has is his COR score. Currently Garcia has a COR score of -24.59 (the lower the number the better). Not only is Garcia one of only three players with a COR score below zero, but his score is almost 20 points below the next best player (Morales at -5.61). This shows that Garcia has great statistics all the way around.

Finally there is something that Garcia does very well that I don't have a stat for. The best way I describe it is that he forces defenders to make mistakes. I can't count how many times I have seen Garcia pressure a defender and that defender either gives up the ball or just kicks the ball out of bounds to avoid Garcia from stealing it. He has also created two penalty kicks on the season.

The exciting thing for RSL fans is that Garcia is still so young and should only continue to get better. The future is bright for Olmes Garcia.